Maple Leafs wait for Tambellini to show his draft-day cards

TORONTO – Dave Morrison does not want to sound like he’s bragging, but the Toronto Maple Leafs head scout admits he has a pretty good track record at predicting the order at the top end of drafts.

In 2007, he correctly picked Patrick Kane would go first overall. Had Taylor Hall going ahead of Tyler Seguin in 2010. More or less went pick-for-pick during last year’s entire first round. This year? Well, let’s just say the Leafs have the No. 5 pick and so far Morrison has five lists where someone different might be available to them.

“It’s an interesting year, because there’s not a lot to distinguish between a lot of the players at the top of the draft,” said Morrison, who spent Friday watching the top prospects compete during the fitness-testing portion of the NHL draft combine.

“We’re just putting a lot of different scenarios together of what we think could happen and how we would react to them. So if this guy gets taken, what do we do? Do we keep the pick if this guy is still there? Do we move the pick to get this? So that part of the equation is a lot of fun. There’s a lot of different mock scenarios that we’re putting together.”

You can blame Edmonton for most of this uncertainty. For the third straight year, the Oilers hold the No. 1 pick, but not even general manager Steve Tambellini is sure if they will use their selection on consensus top prospect Nail Yakupov, fill an organizational need with a defenceman, or trade down.

“It’s a little bit of a different draft because we’ve heard a lot of different things,” Morrison said. “Some information is factual and some is not. You have to sort of be prepared for everything. What you hear at the very top is they might not do what you think they might do. That’s why this draft is a unique draft in that sense.”

Not everyone is convinced that Yakupov is the best fit for an Edmonton team that is loaded with forwards and selected Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Hall with the No. 1 pick the last two years.

If that is the case, the Oilers might be better off selecting defenceman Ryan Murray or listening to trade offers.

“I think you have to be ready for different options,” said Tambellini, who said he has already begun taking phone calls from other teams. “We’ve only had what I would term as soft calls at this point. We didn’t expect to have the first pick, but we won the (draft) lottery and have a bonus from that point. Unless we get a significant, significant offer, we’re going to make the pick.”

Whether Toronto remains at No. 5 depends on what the teams above it decide to do with their selections. .

The bottom line, said Morrison, is that the Leafs find an impact player in what is not a weak draft, but one that lacks obvious “star power.”